How to Deliver a Powerful and Persuasive Message

When we think about consensus, persuasion, and delivering the very best message, it all starts with communication. My guest this week, Keynote speaker and award-winning journalist Eleanor Beaton shares a wealth of practical knowledge and inspiration on how to be the best leader you can be.

Communicate incisively and on point

We know that communication is important. It should be at the foundation of our leadership toolbox. So how do we take the jump from being a good communicator to being a good persuader?

It all comes down to a critical skill that we will see again and again and again in the world’s most successful leaders. To Eleanor, a successful leader is someone who can drive the business outcomes in a way that is also driving happiness, performance, fulfillment both for themselves and for their team.

There are two components you should keep in mind:

Stop explaining your ideas, and rather position them. Don’t talk vaguely about your ideas. You want your communication to be incisive and on point.

Really dial up how you perform in meetings. Meetings are the critical unit of performance inside any organization. Every important thing gets decided or undone in a meeting.

Learn how to position your ideas

When it comes to positioning your ideas, there are some things you should pay attention to:

A controlling idea. Rather than just talking generally, take a position and share a controlling idea: your opinion on where things need to be.

Give people the details: the who, what, where, when. Offer them some stories or some examples that drive the controlling idea home.

Own the promise. When this group of people follows you, what will be possible?

Where does the confidence come from? Practice, practice, practice.

The challenge of leadership

As a leader, it’s important to be humble, authentic and transparent, but it is also important to have excitement. If you can’t get excited enough to say “This is where we’re going, this is what’s possible for us.”, if you can’t courageously own that, who can? That is the challenge of leadership.

The reality is that the majority of our waking hours are spent at work. We give so much of our time, energy, attention, blood, sweat and tears to our organizations. As leaders, let’s make that count for something.

You have to have the courage to move from being a student to being a teacher. You have to recognize that your insight and your experience have value.

Constantly reinvent yourself if you want to succeed

The leaders who always seem to get the most traction, the ones who are able to tap into the most endless stream of opportunities are those who have taken control of their personal brand, who are contributing their thoughts and ideas in journals, conferences, on podcasts, who are really speaking their truth. You develop the courage to do it through the commitment to take action and to share what you know.

You should be able to reinvent yourself in order to stay relevant. It doesn’t matter how old you are. You can do that in a couple of ways:

By making sure that you continue to build your network.

By making sure that you are continuously taking on stretch assignments. Find new ways to cultivate your creativity.